Judeo-Christian Religious Environmental Values: Basic Tenets
Judaism:
•Divinely ordained human role:
shomrei adamah (keepers of the
earth – Gen 2:15)
• “For the Earth is mine” (Lev
25:23)
• Love your neighbor as yourself
(Lev 19:18)
• Dominion as responsible
stewardship; partners in work of
Creation (Gen 1:28)
• Bal Tash’hit: prohibition against
wanton destruction (Deut 20:19)
• Tikkun Olam: repairing the
world under God’s sovereignty
(Aleinu –Jewish prayer)
• Tu B’ Shevat: Jewish new year
of the trees
• Sabbath for people, land, and
animals (Lev 25:1-5; Ex 23:11)
Evangelical Christian:
• Creation is God’s handiwork (Gen 1:1-2:2; Ps 24:1)
• Humans, made in divine image, are to care for the Earth (Gen 2:15)
• Christ is the one by whom all things were created, in whom all things
hold together, and through whom all things are reconciled to God (Col
1:16-20)
• All creation awaits God’s promised redemption (Romans 8:19-22)
Mainline Protestant:
• Peace, justice, service, and the integrity of creation (stewardship and
eco-justice)
• Creation and redemption, humanity and nature, are profoundly
integrated (incarnation)
• Environmental racism and environmental justice
Roman Catholic:
• Environmental Justice for the poor and vulnerable
• Human dignity
• Regard for the common good
• Sustainable economic development that serves authentic human needs
Seven biblical principles for creation care (Bratton, 2004)
Stewardship
Do not destroy (ba’al tashit)
Divine joy
Neighborliness
Sabbatical
Respecting the disadvantaged
Prudence
Seven biblical principles for creation care (DeWitt, 1994)
Earthkeeping
Christ as creator, sustainer, reconciler
Sabbath rest
Enjoy but not destroy
Seek first the kingdom of God
Seek true contentment
Practice what you believe
Rasmussen’s Seven
Christian Cosmological Approaches (1991):
Dominion
Stewardship
Partnership
Sacramentalism
Eco-feminism
Prophetic-teacher
Evolutionary
Bouma-Prediger’s Ten Reasons to Care for Creation (2001)
1. Self-interest
2. Obligations to future generations
3. Simplicity – an earth-friendly way of life is more joyful
4. The eco-justice argument
5. Animal rights
6. Intrinsic value, and value generates duty (Ps 104,96; Gen 1:31)
7. Interdependence.. common good… community… (Gen 6-9; Ps 104,148)
8. Divine command argument (Gen 2:15, Lev 25 - Sabbath)
9. Image of God argument – dominion, imitate Christ’s rule
10. For the Beauty of the Earth – the grateful heart argument
Varieties of eco-theology
Laurel Kearns (1996)
- Eco-Justice
-Stewardship
-Creation Spirituality
+Ecofeminism
Some of the most commonly expounded tenets of Christian and Jewish
ecotheology (and corresponding Scriptural references) include:
● God’s
proclamation of the intrinsic value of all creation, which is designated very
good (Genesis 1:31).
● The human call to serve and protect creation (Genesis 2:15), exercising the power
of dominion (Genesis 1:26–28) responsibly, as stewards of the earth which is the Lord’s
(Psalm 24:1); observing ba’al tashit, God’s prohibition against wasteful destruction
(Deuteronomy 20:19).
● God’s protective covenant with all life (not just with human life) at the new
beginning of the human story after the Flood (Genesis 9).
● God’s intention that human productivity be restrained through Sabbath rest for the
sake of humans, wildlife, and land (Leviticus 25–26; Exodus 23:10), and the fact
that Sabbath rest is part of the very order of creation (Genesis 2:2–3).
● God’s displeasure with violent, unjust, greedy people, whose disobedience and
unfaithfulness, warn the prophets, leads to devastation of the land (Hosea 4:1–3;
Jeremiah 12:4; Zechariah 7:8–14). These warnings presage John’s prophecy of the
time to come for rewarding the faithful and ‘for destroying those who destroy the
earth’ (Revelation 11:18).
● God’s humbling comparison of humans to other creatures and the natural world
(Job 38–41); God’s exhortation to forsake vanity and materialism by appeal to nonhuman
exemplars (Luke 12:24–48), especially in light of God’s abundant provision (e.g. Psalm 104).
● The revelatory value of the ‘Book of Nature,’ whereby knowledge of God is gained
by observing creation (Romans 1:20; Job 12:7–9; cf. Psalm 19:1–4).
● The doxological celebration of the creator by all creation (e.g. Psalms 65, 96, 98
and 148).
● The identification of the cosmic relevance of Christ, through whom all things were
made (John 1:3; Colossians 1:15–17; Hebrews 1:2), in whom all things hold
together and are sustained (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:17), and through whom all
things are reconciled to God (Colossians 1:20); God’s salvific intentions for all
creation (John 3:16–’For God so loved the cosmos…’; see also Mark 16:15) and the
link between human redemption and the redemption of all creation (Romans
8:19–25).
● The Kabbalist notion of tikkun olam, the repairing of the world (e.g. Feldman,
2003), which is sometimes connected with the environmentally prescient
celebration of Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish New Year for Trees (Elon et al., 1999).
● Eschatological (end times) visions of cosmic harmony, where the ‘wolf shall live
with the lamb,’ and where ‘they will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain’
(Isaiah 11:6–9; 65:25), and when creation will enjoy the freedom of the children of
God (Romans 8:19–21).
(Source: Hitzhusen, G.E. 2007. Judeo-Christian theology and the environment: Moving beyond scepticism to new
sources for environmental education in the United States. Environmental Education Research, 13 (1), 55-74.)
Wildman’s Eco-theology and Environmental Ethics bibliography:
http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/proj_bibs_ecoethics_00.htm
Evangelical Declaration on the Care of Creation:
http://www.creationcare.org/blank.php?id=39
The Biblical Basis for Creation Stewardship (Fellowship Church, 2003):
http://fellowshipknox.org/files/files/creation-stewardship.pdf
The Genesis of Ecotheology…
Chapter 1: In the Beginning God Created the Heavens and the Earth
Earth was a formless void…
And the wind (ruach) of God swept over the face of the waters
God speaks some things into being:
Let there be light… Let there be sky…
God orders some things:
Darkness from light, waters from waters, sea from land…
And set lights in the dome… (sun and moon to rule day and night)
God says:
Let the earth bring forth vegetation… the waters bring forth swarms
(sharats) of living things… the earth bring forth creatures of every kind…
God blessed the fish and the birds to be fruitful, multiply, and fill (male’) the earth…
On the same day the Earth brought forth the land creatures:
God creates human beings in God’s image, male and female, and lets them
rule (radah) over the earth and its creatures…
God blesses the humans to be fruitful (parah), multiply (rabah); fill/replenish (male’) the
earth and subdue (kabash) it, and rule/have dominion (radah) over the creatures.
God gives the humans and the other creatures plants for food…
Along the way, as God created these things, God saw that they were Good;
Finally, God saw all that he had made, and it was Very Good
(Septuagint: lian kala: altogether good and beautiful, exceedingly good).
Chapter 2: Thus the Heavens and the Earth Were Completed
God then rested from creating on the seventh day, and blessed the Sabbath;
Hallowed it because on that day God rested from the work of creating.
A mist came up from the Earth, and watered the ground (Adamah);
and God created Adam from the Adamah…
God planted a garden… placed Adam in the garden…
and made every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food to grow out of
the Adamah… and a river went out of Eden to water the garden…
2:15: God placed Adam in the garden to dress (abad) and keep it (shamar)…
God decides Adam should not be alone, so forms all the creatures out of
the Adamah, and whatever the Adam calls them, they are named…
But they disobey…
3:17: Cursed (arar) is the ground because of you… by your sweat you’ll eat bread… dust
to dust… sent out of garden to abad the Adamah. (ground later cursed, arar, for Cain)
And:
6:1: when people began to multiply (rabab), God saw their wickedness, their thinking
only evil continually (6:5), and God was sorry he made them;
God’s heart was grieved… (Uh-oh…)
God decides to destroy them (all flesh)…because the Earth was corrupt, and filled
(male’) with violence. 6:13: The Earth is filled (male’) with violence because of
them… so I will destroy them and the earth… 6:17: God will bring a flood to
destroy every creature, all flesh, everything that has the breath of life in it…
1
The Genesis of Ecotheology…
But:
Noah (Noach = “rest”) will be saved by building an ark and bringing two of all kinds,
male and female each, into the ark. Noah did all he was commanded.
With Noah, things proceed as God commands…
The flood brings chaos and un-creation…
But then God brings a wind, and the waters subside…
All things come out of the ark to be fruitful, multiply, and increase (sharats)…
God says he will never again curse (qalal) the ground or destroy all living
creatures like this…
8:22: Seasons, seed-time and harvest, will endure…
Chapter 9: Then God Blessed Noah and his Family, and Made a Covenant…
God blesses Noah and his sons:
be fruitful (parah) and multiply (rabah), and fill (male’) the earth…
(always good advice to rare peoples…)
Dominion powers acknowledged but not “charged/commanded” – taking of life
delimited…
‫( ב‬bet) bring forth abundantly (sharats) on
earth and multiply (rabah)… [no dominion/subdue (radah) ‫( ד‬dalet) line!]
Be fruitful (parah) and multiply (rabah),
God’s covenant with Noah and with ALL LIVING THINGS…
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9‘As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you
and your descendants after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic
animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.* 11I establish my covenant
with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a
flood to destroy the earth.’ 12God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you
and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13I have set my bow in the clouds, and
it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and the
bow is seen in the clouds, 15I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living
creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is
in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of
all flesh that is on the earth.’ 17God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have established
between me and all flesh that is on the earth.’
From “Uh-oh” to “Hallelujah”?
Let stones cry out…
Let trees clap their hands…
Let all things praise God…
Creation, itself in bondage, is eager for our adoption, so it too might share
in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Let’s not play small with our Light – Let it Shine!
2
Dominion After Genesis…
Micah 7:19
He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities under foot (kabash). You will
cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Leviticus 25:43
You shall not rule over them with harshness, but shall fear your God.
I Kings 4:24-25
For he had dominion over all the region west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the
kings west of the Euphrates; and he had peace on all sides. (And note: God gave Solomon the
greatest wisdom of all time; he composed 3,000 proverbs, 1,005 songs, and: “He would speak of
trees, from the cedar that is in the Lebanon to the hyssop that grows in the wall; he would speak
of animals, and birds, and reptiles, and fish. People came from all the nations to hear the wisdom
of Solomon… (I Kgs 4:33-34))
Psalm 8
1
O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory
above the heavens…
3
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have
established;
4
what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
5
Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.
6
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under
their feet,
7
all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
8
the birds of the air, and he fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea.
9
O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Psalm 24:1-2
1
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it;
2
for he founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.
Wisdom of Solomon 9:1-3a
1
”O God of my ancestors and the Lord of mercy, who have made all things by your word, 20and
by your wisdom have formed humankind to have dominion over the creatures you have made,
3
and rule the world in holiness and righteousness, and pronounce judgment in uprightness of
soul,
4
give me the wisdom that sits by your throne…
Hebrews 5:4-5
4
And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as
Aaron was
5
So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one
who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”…
1
Dominion After Genesis…
Philipians 2:5-11
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the
form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled
himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. Therefore God also
highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Deuteronomy 17:14-20
When you have come into the land that the Lord you God is giving you, and have taken
possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that
are around me,” you may indeed set over you a king whom the Lord your God will choose. One
of your own community you may set as king over you; you are not permitted to put a foreigner
over you, who is not of your own community. Even so, he must not acquire many horses for
himself, or return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses, since the Lord has said to
you, “you must never return that way again.” And he must not acquire many wives for himself,
or else his heart will turn away; also silver and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for
himself. When he has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law written
for him in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall remain with him and he shall read in it all
the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, diligently observing all the
words of this law and these statutes, neither exalting himself above other members of the
community nor turning aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he
and his descendants may reign long over his kingdom Israel.
See Ezekiel 34:11-31 – God the True Shepherd
Ezekiel 34:21-22
Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns
until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged;
and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
Ephesians 1:20-23
20
God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his
right hand in the heavenly places,
21
far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named,
not only in this age but also in the age to come.
22
And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the
church,
23
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
What is man that he has been given dominion over the creatures? It is the man “who has first
looked up to the stars, and realized how small he is in comparison with the glory of the Heavens.
It is the man who knows his place in the creation….This Adam is no strong ruler, trampling the
earth; this is the shepherd king or the gardener.” –Margaret Barker, 2002, “Paradise Lost:
Religion, Science and the Environment.”
2
The Prophets Decry
Hosea 4:1-3
Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you
who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the land.
There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and
bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land mourns, and all who live in it waste
away; the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea are dying.”
Jeremiah 12:4
How long will the land mourn and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live
in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished.
Zechariah 7:8-14
And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: “This is what the Lord Almighty says:
‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow
or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’
But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears.
They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or the words that the Lord
Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very
angry.
“’When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord
Almighty. ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers.
The land was left so desolate behind them that no one could come or go. This is how they made
the pleasant land desolate.’”
Jeremiah 4:22-28; 5:23-25
4:22: “My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no
understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.”
I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone.
I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.
I looked and there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away.
I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins before the Lord, before his
fierce anger. This is what the Lord says:
“The whole land will be ruined, though I will not destroy it completely. Therefore the earth will
mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not relent, I have
decided and will not turn back.”
5:23: But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone
away. They do not say to themselves, ‘Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives autumn and
spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’
Your wrongdoings have kept these away; your sins have deprived you of good.
Jeremiah 9:12-14
What man is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can
explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?
The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not
obeyed me or followed my law.
Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as
their fathers taught them.”
1
The Prophets Decry
Ezekiel 15:8
I will make the land desolate because they have been unfaithful, declares the Sovereign Lord.
Ezekiel 33:25-29
Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you eat meat with the blood
still in it and look to your idols and shed blood, should you then possess the land?
You rely on your sword, you do detestable things, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife.
Should you then possess the land?’
Say this to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those who are left in
the ruins will fall by the sword, those out in the country I will give to the wild animals to be
devoured, and those in strongholds and caves will die of a plague.
I will make the land a desolate waste, and her proud strength will come to an end, and the
mountains of Israel will become desolate so that no one will cross them.
Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a desolate waste because of
all the detestable things they have done.’
Ezekiel 34:11-19
“’For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after
them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my
sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and
darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will
bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and
in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of
Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they
will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them
lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will
bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will
shepherd the flock with justice.
“’As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will judge between one sheep and
another, and between rams and goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture?
Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink
clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? Must my flock feed on what you
have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?
Micah 6:1-2; 7:13
Listen to what the Lord says: “Stand up, plead your case before the mountains; let the hills hear
what you have to say. Hear, O mountains, the Lord’s accusation; listen, you everlasting
foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge
against Israel.”
The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the result of their deeds.
Revelation 11:18
The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and
for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name,
both small and great—and for destroying those who destroy the earth.
2
Christocentric Creation, Cosmic Redemption & Reconciliation
Romans 8:19-24a
19
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God;
for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
21
that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the
children of God.
22
We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now;
23
And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit, groan inwardly while we wait
for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
24
For in hope we were saved…
20
John 3:16
For God so loved the world (kosmos) that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish
but may have eternal life.
Col 1:15-20
15
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;
for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him.
17
He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18
He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to
have first place in everything.
19
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell
20
and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making
peace through the blood of his cross.
16
Hebrews 1:2-3
2
but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also
created the worlds.
3
He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his
powerful word…
John 1:1-4
1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
3
All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being
4
in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
2
Acts 3:19-21
19
Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out,
so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah appointed
for you, that is, Jesus
21
who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration (restoration of all things) that God announced
long ago through his holy prophets.
20
Ephesians 1:8b-10
8
…With all wisdom and insight
he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,
10
as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
9
I Corinthians 15:28
When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in
subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.
I Corinthians 8:6
Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus
Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
1
Christocentric Creation, Cosmic Redemption & Reconciliation
II Corinthians 5:17-19
17
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become
new!
18
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation:
19
that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and
entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.
Ephesians 1:20-23
20
God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the
heavenly places,
21
far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age
but also in the age to come.
22
And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church,
23
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Revelation 21
1
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them
as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them;
4
he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no
more, for the first things have passed away.”
5
And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.”…
6
Then he said to me: “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give
water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.”…
10
And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming
down out of heaven from God…
22
I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
23
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
24
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.
25
Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.
26
People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.
27
But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood…
3
Revelation 22
1
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the
Lamb
2
through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit,
producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
3
Nothing accursed will be found there any more (and there shall be no more curse KJV). But the throne of God and
of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him;
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they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
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And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they
will reign forever and ever.
Isaiah 11:6-9
6
The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling
together; and a little child shall lead them.
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The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9
They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea.
Hosea 2:18
I will make for you a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the
ground; and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety.
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